Opinion | The Post endorses Tom Perez in Maryland’s Democratic gubernatorial primary

It’s simple to be dazzled by Mr. Perez’s résumé whereas shedding sight of his document as an issue solver in key native, state and federal roles. The purpose shouldn’t be that Mr. Perez, 60, the son of Dominican immigrants, has held an extended record of massive jobs; it’s that in all of them he can level to tangible, vital achievements. When he says he belongs to the “GSD” — Get Stuff Accomplished — wing of his social gathering, none of his Democratic rivals trouble to argue. Even conservatives concede he’s extremely efficient.

That Mr. Perez stands out amongst his social gathering’s main crowd of 10 males — sure, sadly: all males — is a testomony to his substance, not flash. He was a civil rights prosecutor, holding police departments accountable for biased enforcement; gained a seat on the Montgomery County Council, enjoying a key function in attacking predatory lending in a big, various locality; served as Maryland’s secretary of labor, licensing and regulation, focusing on company fraud; ran the Justice Division’s Civil Rights Division, pushing higher safety for immigrants, LGBTQ people and people with HIV/AIDS from discrimination and overseeing lawsuits towards abusive policing and restrictive state voting legal guidelines.

As labor secretary throughout President Barack Obama’s second time period, Mr. Perez intervened, at his personal initiative, to assist finish one of many greatest U.S. strikes in years — about 40,000 Verizon employees who walked off the job in 2016 in a bitter dispute over job safety, pensions and health-care advantages. The strike ended after 45 days with a contract, negotiated below his supervision, which Verizon’s administration and labor each claimed as a victory.

Mr. Perez’s imaginative and prescient for Maryland is a liberal agenda that may prioritize measures to fight local weather change, promote transit, and shut the state’s racial, wealth and academic achievement gaps. His platform is extra detailed and impressive than these of his foremost rivals and differs from them in one other main respect: It’s primarily freed from pie-in-the-sky concepts that pepper different candidates’ web sites — akin to aiming for power independence, thereby driving up electrical payments by depriving Maryland residents of low-cost energy from neighboring states.

Amongst Mr. Perez’s chief main opponents, two bear mentioning.

Rushern L. Baker III, who because the Prince George’s County government virtually single-handedly resuscitated the locality’s fame after his predecessor was jailed for corruption, is a public servant of bizarre integrity and decency. Wes Moore, who ran an anti-poverty philanthropy, led an elite paratrooper brigade in Afghanistan, and wrote a best-selling guide about his expertise in Baltimore, the place he lives, is dynamic and proficient. We admire each.

However not one of the candidates can match Mr. Perez’s monitor document or command of governing. Few candidates in Maryland’s historical past, or the nation’s, would enter a governor’s workplace so effectively ready.